


Dylan Peake - The Shadowman (A Backstory)

by ToolsOfTrypticon



Category: The Enemy Series - Charlie Higson
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23461432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToolsOfTrypticon/pseuds/ToolsOfTrypticon
Summary: A very short story attempting to fill in the gap of one Dylan Peake's backstory before he went (mostly) solo.(This is more than a few years old).





	Dylan Peake - The Shadowman (A Backstory)

**Author's Note:**

> Something I wrote for an English creative essay back in high school a few years ago. It is supposed to be something that fills in the gap in the backstory of Dylan Peake (the Shadowman). It has been a while since I wrote this (3/4 years since starting and 3 years tomorrow since I last edited it) and I have read many, many fanfictions of differing lengths and qualities since then, stretching almost as far back as this story's age (3 years roughly). I may one day remaster this since I have had a lot more experience in the whole fanfiction genre (and typing in general) since then. I just wanted to post this, despite its poor quality, because it has been nagging me for a while now, and I would like to write fanfictions at some point in time down the line, although my goal would be something more like My Hero Academia, Arifureta, or The Rising of the Shield Hero. We shall see, but for now, I leave you with this glorious "masterpiece."

Dylan was running. His shoes smacking the wet concrete with every step, the rain still falling around him. He was exhausted, but every time he thought about resting, he looked behind him to remind himself why he couldn’t stop yet. Behind him, just down the road were a group of vicious grown-ups, all chasing after him. It wasn’t the first time but he still couldn’t believe any of it. Was it really only a few weeks ago that I was still living a normal life, he thought to himself. Since the outbreak it had been one disaster after another: first, his parents had caught the illness and were taken away never for him to see again; then his neighbors had become infected, who some had found out the hard way were hungry for the flesh of those who remained. Since then he had been forced to leave his childhood home and run constantly just to find a safe place. The last thing he remembered before things went really bad was the various news outlets broadcasting how many scientific minds believed those under fourteen were immune to the mysterious disease. It was all anyone could guess now since he hadn’t bumped into any friendly adults and none of the kids he was with were ill.  
Shutting out the bad memories, Dylan concentrated on using his efforts to get to his safe place. He was getting close now; he could see the house where he would be home and dry. Despite being tired, he found the promise of being home and dry to be very encouraging so, with a sudden burst of energy, he made it over to his home and shouted to those inside. Once he was inside, he turned round to Eric, the door guard5 and thanked him for being so quick at opening the door; they were all drilled well at this kind of thing now. It hadn’t helped to save the others with him though, and Eric was considerate enough not to ask. The others, like Eric, had been close to him, but they were gone now, so he shut their last terrifying moments out of his mind. He was shocked at himself for being able to do it so easily, but he knew he simply had no tears left after losing so many people close to him  
He knew Anita wouldn’t get over it so quickly though and he also knew that he was going to be blamed for this mess as if it was somehow his fault by being the only one of them still alive. The truth was that they had gone searching for food out west of their home and it had started promisingly, but that all changed when they stumbled upon the same group of grown-ups that had followed him here. They had been forced to abandon what little food they had to escape and for his friends, it still hadn’t been enough since they were caught anyway. He was still pondering what he was going to say to her right up until he began the conversation with her.  
Afterward, he was thinking about how he had gone in thinking he was right, that it hadn’t been his fault and then he had come out unsure of himself. He knew it was her skill at persuasion that made her the right person for diffusing a situation, but he also knew that next to her arrogance it was her biggest flaw since she could never accept any criticism. She had talked to him about how the mess “he” caused wouldn’t have happened if she had gone. She had added that “the rest of the group left here would have struggled to cope without her guiding light.”  
It was true that she was a good leader, but he remembered one thing that she did not: he was the best fighter they had as he had proven on many occasions, so he was sure that if he couldn’t save his friends, then her “guiding light” couldn’t have done so either.  
The next day, he was still thinking about what had been said. He knew that with all the recent losses that it was time they all moved on to another area since only Anita, Eric, a few other kids and himself remained. He had tried to convince Anita about this for the last week and she had stood her ground on the matter that they would stay until it quietened down. Today though, it seemed, when Anita had announced they were going to move on, would be different. He had thought it had been her best decision in a while now, so she didn’t argue with her about it.  
When they finally left around mid-afternoon he wasn’t so pleased since they didn’t know how far they would need to travel with so little of the day remaining. Despite the fact that it was often quiet during the day, he did not let his guard down as some of the others did. He knew not to take anything for granted. They continued on like that for some time until they found the first house they thought they could use. The others were happy to rest but soon they noticed why he hadn’t. He had noticed that inside the house was a group of grown-ups that were sleeping. Since their numbers were too few to step into the unknown and fight so many of them they moved on. Over the next few attempts, the same thing would happen again or they would realize that the house wasn’t so easily defendable after all. With tempers rising as the sun fell, they kept traveling until they finally found a house that was safe enough to use, so they decided to use this house for at least the night. They quickly entered the house and secured the door behind them with what they could scavenge from the nearby rooms. Once it was done they all moved into the biggest of the rooms and made themselves as comfortable as they could with what was available.  
Later, while everyone else was sleeping in the moonlit room, Dylan was, for reasons he couldn’t find, thinking about his mother and father. He was thinking about all the good times he remembered with them. He knew they were gone, but for the first time since they were taken away from him, he was willing to believe the lie living at the back of his mind that they were still with him. He started crying tears of happiness.  
“Are you alright Dylan?” came a hushed voice from behind him. He snapped back to reality and saw Eric. He replied to Eric that he was fine. “Ok, it’s just that you were crying,” said Eric back. “You just have a lot on your mind then, huh? You want to get some fresh air?” Eric asked. Dylan decided he would. So they made their way outside - replacing the barricade as they left - and walked along the empty street.  
They had left in an uplifted mood. Things were different when they returned. They could see that the house was surrounded by grown-ups and that some children were being eaten. After a moment they could recognize that some of the kids were people from their group. The rest including Anita were fighting the horde. They quickly rushed over to help and only Anita was left by the time they got there. She started questioning where they had been and why they had left them. They tried to explain themselves but Anita was so caught up in her own self-righteousness that she would not listen to them. She couldn’t even see that the others were gone and that if she stayed here it was going to be a death sentence for her and anyone else silly enough to follow.  
Dylan couldn’t abandon another kid though, so he stayed. The three of them charged the grown-ups, but Eric’s nerve broke and he backed away. Dylan shouted to Anita to stop but she refused, called them cowards and continued anyway. She soon realized after she killed the first few, however, that she was stuck with no way out. Dylan saw this and rushed over to help her, smashing skulls and bones until - when Anita was nearly free - he heard a shout from behind him that really made him worry. Eric had been grabbed by a fresh group and was being dragged away into an alleyway. Dylan could no longer hear his friend and he could see that he had no hope of getting Eric out so he continued helping Anita, against his gut. Once she was free shockingly she charged right into the group that had Eric. Dylan shouted after her but simply turned away and left as he saw her disappear into the mob. He left having no strength to continue fighting today.  
Later, Dylan still felt as exhausted as he had when everyone had died. His sleep was plagued by his friends’ ghosts. He had stayed there thinking about those events over and over. He had begun to think that this had been his fault.  
He decided that to avoid further hurt he would avoid becoming attached to any groups he found. He would observe, intervening only to stop others from feeling his despair. He decided to make sure they could not know his name so that they could not be attached to him. He would be a being of the shadows. He would be, “The Shadowman.”

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, other than a few sorted spelling mistakes since my last edit in Microsoft Word 3 years ago, this is all that has been done with this story. As I said, I may one day choose to do something more with this story, but before that, I would need to spend a lot of time becoming familiar and invested in the series again. I am open to the idea, and even if I am not writing anything, I will be active either on here or on Fanfiction.net - and, once in a blue moon, Wattpad - reading stories or occasionally commenting in the comments section of one of the many fanfiction stories I am reading/ am likely to read. Thank you to anyone that does read this, and take care during these uncertain times. Peace.


End file.
